1. Field
This disclosure relates to new systems and methods for providing commerce on video discs such as DVD's.
2. General Background and State of the Art
Interactive television and television commerce is widely pursued and currently understood by numerous companies. Among companies developing software for interactive TV applications are WINK, OPENTV, ABC's ENHANCED TV and GOLDPOCKET INTERACTIVE. Companies like SCIENTIFIC ATLANTA AND MOTOROLA create set-top boxes for interactive television systems.
There is also an enhanced content forum committed to accelerating the creation and distribution of enhanced television programs called the ADVANCED TELEVISION ENHANCEMENT FORUM, or ATVEF. ATVEF is a cross industry alliance of companies representing the broadcast and cable networks, television transports, consumer electronics, and PC industries. This alliance of companies has defined protocols for Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)-based enhanced television, which allow content creators to deliver enhanced programming over all forms of transport (analog, digital, cable, and satellite) to any intelligent receivers.
Most implementations of interactive television involve sending triggers or multimedia assets to the user via the broadcast mechanism (cable modem, Internet connection) to a PC or television set-top box. The broadcast center sends a signal to the set-top box to display the content. If the user's set-top box has an Internet back-channel, the user may then use a keyboard, mouse or remote-control to request further information on an advertised product, receive a coupon, or even purchase the advertised product.
Set-top box based television commerce has yet to catch on in a major way in the United States. In their current implementations, set-top boxes have limited appeal to consumers. The boxes are expensive, slow and have limited display capabilities. Also, there are technical difficulties in delivering a large quantity of appealing and rich advertising content to the boxes through traditional broadcast technology.
Consequently, there is little content for television commerce and the experience provided by existing content is under whelming compared to the experience provided by Internet commerce.
It also is well known that companies pay large amounts of money to include their products in movies and other film productions. Showing a famous actor drinking their brand of soft drink, or wearing a new design of shoes or sunglasses, for example, can launch consumer trends, especially among certain targeted age groups.
Therefore it is desired to facilitate the ability for viewers to purchase products that are featured in movies or other video productions.